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DA gets another invitation to discuss jail population

That was Beaufort County Commissioner Hood Richardson’s way of renewing his request for District Attorney Seth Edwards to appear before the Beaufort County Board of Commissioners to discuss the length of time some inmates are spending in the Beaufort County jail. Edwards has turned down a previous request by the board to discuss the issue. At the board’s March 11 meeting, Richardson said the jail’s overcrowding is a result of lack of jail management by Edwards and the slow rate at which the district attorney’s office tries cases.

In a letter to County Manager Randell Woodruff, Edwards wrote he had “no intention of entering the bully pulpit of Hood Richardson. That didn’t stop Richardson, during the board’s meeting Monday, from again asking that Edwards appear before the board to talk about the jail population.

“I promise if the district attorney shows up, I won’t say a word,” Richardson said. “All I want him to do is explain why these people are in jail for so long. He refuses to do it. If he comes, I won’t say single word. He can come in here and showboat all he wants to.”

Richardson said he disagrees with almost everything Edwards wrote in his letter to Woodruff.

“The DA needs to get his act together and start trying cases,” Richardson said.

Edwards is out of his office until Monday and could not be reached for comment.